Improving Skills - Part 32 - Update 2

Two pages out of three done. I still got a lot to do with the last page, so I don't think I can finish it before my four-day weekend. I'll try to finish it before this year ends though. The thing is that the last page is a bit bigger than the other two, so no promises!

Improving Skills - Part 32 - Update 1

Silly me! I forgot to update this blog!

Well, I got almost nothing to say. I finished the line art today, so I'll start colouring the comic next week. The progress has been slow because of a couple of difficult panels, and computer problems and...

Um... Well, there hasn't been that many computer problems. Actually not a single one besides that Internet problem I had yesterday, but that didn't affect my drawing at all. There has been some distractions however! They have actually been really important matters!

Really important!

Well, quite important.

I quess they have somewhat high priority...

It has nothing to do with Fallout 4, I swear.

Important matters.

Yes.

No 50 hours of Fallout 4.

Really important matters.

Yeah...

The comic is coming together nicely! Don't worry about it! Everything's just fine!

Improving Skills - Part 31 - Final Update

It's ready. That's all.

Improving Skills - Part 31 - Update 3

I almost finished one page of the comic when suddenly Photoshop crashed in the middle of saving and corrupted the file. No, it's not recoverable. It's just empty .tmp-file. I have never been this angry.

Fuck you, Adobe. Fuck you.

Improving Skills - Part 31 - Update 2

Characters are now coloured, and everything else is coming together nicely! I even managed to finish one panel completely... Well, it has no shading and shadows yet, but otherwise it's done.

Improving Skills - Part 31 - Update 1

The line art of the characters is ready! Now I only have to draw eyes and add some colours and shading. Not a big deal! I also started working with the backgrounds since I'm trying a new style with them. I have to say that I'm a bit scared. I have no idea what the end result will look like...

Improving Skills - Part 31 - Started

I actually started part 31 at the same time I released part 30, but better late than never! I just scanned all the pages (just two of them this time), and created the layout for them. Now I just have to draw, and since I'm using a bit more simplified technique this time, it shouldn't take that long. Lineart still takes quite a while, but shading takes a lot less time than previously!

Extra Stuff: Improving Skills - Part 30

You probably know that I'm not too happy with the latest comic I released. It's not too bad, but it's not great either. It's more like "meh".

Now that I look at part 30 again, it actually looks pretty good! Why is that? Because I took a look at the sketches I used to draw it. They are the most hideous things I've ever seen, and here they are!

Pages 1 and 2

Pages 3 and 4

Page 5

With the sketches like that, I'm actually more than happy with the final result.

Improving Skills - Part 30 - Final Update

I... I think it's ready! I mean, of course it's missing speech bubbles, but that's all I have to do anymore! It's not the best comic I've ever done, but it's... Well, it's something. At least it's done!

Improving Skills - Part 30 - Update 4

It's been a month since last update, but now I'm ALMOST done with the characters. The colouring itself didn't take long at all, but their eyes, expressions, and other tweaking was time consuming. Now there are just shading, highlights and other effects to do, and then I can start working with backgrounds.

I think I'm more than halfway done!

Improving Skills - Part 30 - Update 3

I just finished the line art of page 4, which means that there's only one page remaining. It should be quite simple page to draw since it has only three panels and I can use copy-paste technique with them. I'll finish it during next week, and then I'm pretty much done with the line art. I still have to draw lines for some tricky props, but it shouldn't take too long. After all that, it's just colouring, shading, and making backgrounds. Piece of cake.

But I'm done for today. I got some other matters to attend to.

Improving Skills - Part 30 - Update 2 + Some other stuff

By the looks of it, I posted the previous update almost two weeks ago. What's the situtation of the comic then? Well, I'm still drawing the line art. Truth to be told, I'm not even halfway through. I just finished the second page out of five, and I think I've had enough of drawing for today. The Witcher 3 is waiting...

But before that, some of you might wonder, why does it take so long to draw these comics? First of all, I draw less than 12 hours per week. It's not much which is already a good reason for the slow pace, but the main problem is simpler: I'm just slow and I can't do anything about it. My brain simply can't handle the similar kind of speed that most of the other artists are used to. For Example: The other artists are able to draw the head of a pony in a minute or two. During that time, I only manage to draw the first circle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about it. I'm fine with my drawing speed, but some of my followers aren't, which is the reason I'm writing this.

So if you're one of those impatient followers, which is expecting a new comic every week or so, I'd like to ask you: What's the hurry?

Improving Skills - Part 30 - Update 1

Sketches are ready... kind of. I mean, I can start working with the actual comic, but the sketches are still unfinished. I didn't even draw manes and tails to ponies! I used all this time to get their bodies right, but I even managed to fail that! Now I have to do a lot of work on computer to get everything right.

I hate drawing long comics like this...

Extra Stuff: Improving Skills - Part 29

Almost a year ago before I started suffering from depression, I started working with part 29. I didn't get far until the depression seriously kicked in, but I did manage to do something.

Here's the first panel from summer 2014.

For comparison, here's the same panel from the latest comic.

They're quite different, aren't they? The most notable thing is probably the ears and nostrils. They don't still look exactly what I want them to look. but they're not too far off... I think. The current problem with their heads is probably their eyes. I don't know exactly what, so I have to do some experiments. I also noticed that Twilight's cheeck should be closer to her eye, but it's too late to do anything about that anymore.

I'll upload more this kind of stuff some other day if I'll find any.

Improving Skills - Part 30 Started

I already started sketching part 30. It will be a long one, but not necessarily that difficult to draw.

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Final Update

I... I think it's ready! Speech bubbles and the dialog are still missing, but the art is finally done!

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Update 9

A small delay has occured. It's nothing serious though. I just have to draw more background than I was suppose to, which means that I had to do some extra sketching and adjusting. That took a couple of hours, but I everything should be rather easy from now on. It's the last panel of the comic after all! I'll finish it on Friday or the following Monday. I'm busy tomorrow.

Then there are only speech bubbles and proofreading left! I hope my proofreader is still alive. It's been a quite while since last comic...

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Update 8

I did it! I finally finished the characters! Now I just have to draw backgrounds, and I'm pretty much done with part 29!

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Update 7

Good news! I managed to finish the necessary line art, yay! It's the most time consuming part of comic creation, so it's pretty much all downhill from here. Shading will also take quite a while, but not nearly as long as line art.

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Update 6

Good news everybody! I finally managed to transform just about every idea that I had into drawings. This means that I don't have anything better to do than continue drawing the comic series!

I'm trying a new techique with the next installment, which has worked quite well so far. You won't notice any differences in part 29 since I planned that comic ages ago, but you should see some interesting changes in part 30. It won't be anything mind-blowing, so don't hold your breath.

Improving Skills - Part 29 - Update 5

It's been a while since I started drawing part 29. Because of that, I have decided to start it all over again.